Just some memories
by xSabriel
Summary: A small collection of short proses documenting some of Suga and Shiori's memories. Pre, during, and post True End.
1. His promise

_Shii-chan...to you, I make a promise..._

Tears rolled down the little boy's determined face as the girl before him slowly whited out.

_I promise I will protect Shii-chan. Always._

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><p>It was raining again.<p>

Suga stood at the window of the playroom, reminiscing what had happened a few years ago. He wondered how long this had to go on. It wasn't that he was getting bored, or unwilling to stay. But it was a long time since he last saw Shiori in person. Her parents sometimes sent photos to her grandfather, who would always share them with Suga. But that only made him miss her even more.

He would look through the photos and wonder, how was she? Is she doing well in school? Does she still like to play fighting...with other boys? He would feel a pang of loneliness as he thought of how she didn't remember him anymore. And it was best if she never will.

He closed his eyes and focused on the cold that was seeping through his body, taking in the silence that he was all too familiar with.

Then he heard footsteps in the hallway, the door open and close.

"Still thinking about our Shiori, huh?" the old man who just entered the room asked.

Suga merely lowered his head.

"You don't have to stay, you know. There's still me around. And Shiori's parents will take care of her."

Silence.

"Suga-kun, you're no longer a kid anymore. You're a young man who deserves to be out there getting an education and doing great things-" the old man paused as  
>Suga turned around and walked towards him with a memo.<p>

_I made a promise._  
><em>I will stay.<em>

The old man sighed as Suga walked past him, leaving him standing alone in the room with the note in his hand.


	2. Glowstones

Suga spent most of his time crafting glowstone objects. He had a flair for it, having great patience and attention to detail, combined with his eye for aesthetics. Majority of the pieces displayed in the museum were his works that Shiori's grandfather had particularly loved.

One of these pieces was a beautifully designed silver necklace adorned with three polished glowstones. Suga had made it with Shiori in mind. Perhaps, one day if she returned, he could give it to her. He would tell her to close her eyes, then walk up behind her and clasp the necklace around her neck. And he would see her delighted smile, the smile that he missed seeing so much, the smile that brightened up his otherwise dark days.

So when Shiori's grandfather wanted to display it in the museum, Suga was a bit hesistant at first. But he told himself that she would never come back, and he didn't want her to anyway.


	3. Finally, again

Suga knew there was something familiar about her from the start. At first, he passed it off as a coincidence. But when Shiori confirmed it, he was immediately flooded with a tsunami of emotions.

Was this...real? Shiori had grown so much since the last time he saw her. He wanted so much to tell her how much he missed her, but he couldn't. She must go back. She had to. Azakawa wasn't safe for her. He had to be stern about it. And so despite how it pained him to be rude to her, he wrote her the memo.

_Go back._

But the other two insisted otherwise. Officer Mochizuki also made a valid point - it was really late and Shiori had nowhere to stay. Well, better indoors than outside.

So he reluctantly agreed. And then for the first time in ages, he saw her smile as she thanked him. A warm tingly sensation spread through his body, and he felt tears rising to his eyes. He barely held them back as he gave Shiori a cold nod, then turned his back to her and walked back to his room, tears streaming down his face.


	4. Remembering

Shiori stood in the darkness, memories and emotions flashing through her head.

_The first time she saw Suga._

_When they picked flowers and he made her a flower crown._

_All the packed lunches she shared with him because his father was too busy to make him any._

_That time when she tried to get him to fight but ended up making him cry instead._

_How he always cried and she would desperately try to comfort him._

_How he looked on fearfully at a side while Shiori fought his bullies._

_Him carefully cleaning and putting plasters on her cuts whenever she got hurt in a fight._

_Then the rain, and the promise._

And suddenly, all the feelings she had for Suga as a child came back.

She closed her eyes and tried to recall everything Suga did since she returned. He was trying to protect her... Shiori's heart ached as she thought about how Suga must've felt seeing her again, but unable to acknowledge her, and how he had stayed to protect her all these years, enduring the loneliness.

"It'll be okay. I'm here now, Suga-kun," she whispered.

"I should hurry and leave. Suga-kun must be worried about me."


	5. Crybaby

The first sight that greeted Shiori's eyes as they opened was Suga, crying again.

It slightly surprised her, because the last image of Suga she had in her head was of him as a child. Nonetheless the sight of him crying roused the same feelings she had in the past whenever Suga cried. Despair, heartache, protectiveness. And the urge to be strong for him.

"Suga-kun," Shiori whispered as she raised a hand to caress his face, "such a crybaby as always." Suga smiled, relieved that Shiori was still alive, and she remembered him.

But this was no time for happy reunions. Suga knew well what it meant. The Kotori Obake would be coming for Shiori soon. They had to leave. He had to keep her safe. And if it came down to it, it was his job to make her forget, forget everything again. And forget him again. Hastily, he wrote a note, smudged by the rain and his tears.

_Quickly. Let's leave the forest._


	6. Voice

Finally, the Kotori Obake and the children had been appeased. They were back at the museum, tired after such an overwhelming day. Sakuma and Officer Mochizuki had just gone back, and it was just Shiori and Suga left. Finally, some alone time.

Shiori wondered what to say to Suga. There were so many things she wanted to say. She wanted to know how he had been after she left. She wanted to chat about the past and relive memories together. She wanted to see all the glowstone things he made. She wanted to ask him if he still liked flowers. But she held back. It's been a long time after all. Maybe Suga didn't want to talk to her like that anymore. Besides, she brought him enough trouble already. He deserved a good rest after everything. In the end, she settled for leaving first, and coming back the next day to sort things out.

"Um, Suga-kun. I'll be going back after sorting out the paperwork for this museum...I'm going first..." Shiori turned, and headed for the front door.

Suga panicked. She's leaving! He had a small inner struggle about what to do. He wanted to talk about things, the time between then and now that had been lost. He wanted to know about her, how she had changed, how she was doing. He wanted to keep in touch. He wanted to be with her. Yet, he well knew that she had her own life to lead. Unlike him, she probably had her own friends, and perhaps he didn't mean much to her anymore. But this was his only chance...he had to-

"Shii...-chan."

For a moment, the both of them froze in place, surprised. Suga's face reddened instantly, flustered at how deep his voice had become, while Shiori started giggling.

"Yes? What is it, Suga-kun?"

Suga took out his memo pad and pen to write. He wasn't going to risk the embarrassment again.

_There's a lot I'd like to talk about._

Shiori stared at the note in her hand, and her heart skipped a beat. Smiling, she replied,

"Hh...yeah! There's a lot I'd like to say too!"


	7. Stay

[Author comments] ehh the more I write the more I get the feeling that my English is horrible and my vocab is super ultra mega limited. If you share my opinions on this I'M SORRY TO MAKE YOU ALL READ HORRIBLE REPETITIVE ENGRISH ;~;

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><p><em>Will you come back?<em>

Suga looked at Shiori with a sad look on his face. It had taken them a week to sort out the paperwork, and also catch up on life in between. But the time had come for Shiori to leave. She was still attending school, and had holiday assignments to do. It would be selfish of him to want her to stay with him.

Shiori thought about it for a moment. As much as she would like to stay longer with Suga, she had responsibilities at home to tend to. But maybe, maybe she could find a way around it. Maybe she could make some compromises. But first, she needed to know if he minded.

"Suga-kun...do you remember when we used to play family?"

"Aah-" Suga blushed as he recalled how they used to pretend to be a family, and do family things like cooking together and bringing their teddy bear children out for walks.

"I was serious, when I said that I wanted us to be like that forever- I mean, I want to- ahh. I-" Shiori looked away and grinned awkwardly, "I mean, I want to stay."

"Shii-chan..." Suga looked at her in disbelief, then lowered his head to write a note.

_You can stay if you want._  
><em>I can make arrangements for you to move.<em>

A bright smile lit up on Shiori's face as she read the note, and replied, "of course, Suga-kun, of course I want to stay!"


	8. Diary

[Author's rant of self-loathing and shameless advertising] by now you might be convinced that I write horribly. It's k man! All is not lost. For those of you who are looking for something more graphic(I mean fanart), do check out my deviantArt: sabriei. deviantart .com

I swear I am a better artist than writer.

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><p><em>July 8, Cloudy day<em>

_Today, the Council official came back again. He says the council has decided to buy the museum._

_This time, Sakuma-chan called him a stinking old rat._

_I didn't say anything although I've gotten my voice back. It's strange and I don't like it much._

_I wrote him the same things. And he replied exactly as he had before._

_I'm a scary person. I'm weird. No one comes to the museum. No one likes me._

_Shii-chan got angry again and told him off. He went away._

_But I wish I wasn't so useless._


	9. Visiting

[Author's comments] Thanks for reading and supporting! If you have any suggestions/critiques about my writing feel free to tell me; I hope to improve although I'm only writing for fun ≖‿≖

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><p>In order to convince the council of the museum's value as a heritage site to Azakawa Village, Shiori invited her schoolmates over to visit, as a start to promoting fieldtrips to Azakawa in her school. Before she left to pick up her friends from the train station, she had instructed Suga to do a check on the house again to make sure everything was sparkling clean and in its proper place.<p>

Suga, of course, had already done several rounds of cleaning. The museum was ready for its visitors, yet Suga was not. He was nervous; no one had been in the museum as visitors since a long time. And it was also a long time since he last interacted with any outsiders. Shiori had tried to tell him to chill and just smile. Not that simple. As the manager, there was always a part of him that made him glare at people to make sure they didn't do anything funny with the exhibits.

It also didn't help that half an hour later, Shiori returned with a group of five guys. Somehow just by looking at them, Suga felt that he didn't like them much. Despite so, he tried his best to be nice, forcing his mouth into an awkward smile and bowing as they entered.

Shiori entered last, and was promptly pulled aside by a slightly irritated Suga, who passed her a hastily scribbled note.

_Why are they all boys?_

"Hh...eh," Shiori ruffled the back of her hair, "well...they just are!"

Suga frowned as he wrote another note.

_Boys are loud._

"Don't worry about it, Suga-kun. I'll keep them in check!" Shiori gave Suga an assuring smile, "alright then, seeya later!" and ran off to join her friends, leaving a disoriented Suga standing in the middle of the foyer.


	10. Friends

Suga always tried to avoid interaction with other people if possible. Yet as Shiori brought her five guy friends upstairs to tour the museum, he felt the urge to follow them. In the end, he decided to go, but keep a safe distance.

As Suga made his way up, he heard the boys talking.

"Who's that weird guy, Shiori? Does he live here too?"

"Yeah, what're you doing with a person like him?"

Suga stopped in his steps. Maybe he should just go back to his room and stay out of the way. This was just like in the past. Those other kids making fun of him, making fun of Shiori for being with him. Heis presence would bring her nothing but trouble.

Defeated, he backed down the stairs, and retreated into his room, where he locked himself in and spent the rest of the day crying.


	11. Burden

"Suga-kun, are you okay?" Shiori knelt beside the usually tall man, who was now curled into a small ball on the ground. Shiori wondered what had happened. Earlier that day, her friends had visited the museum, and were all quite impressed with it. She had done a good job of guiding them through the museum, and was feeling rather proud of herself. After they left, she was planning to tell Suga how well it had went, and maybe cook up a feast to reward them both for their hard work.

However, she found Suga in his room like this, his head buried in his arms, refusing to talk or look up. All he did was shake his head whenever Shiori asked him what was wrong. Shiori tried to remember, perhaps it was something her friends had said or done? They did say some mean things about Suga, but she cut them off firmly by telling them that he was family. And that he wasn't weird, just a bit nervous and shy. Yes, that was it. Suga must've heard them.

"Suga-kun..." Shiori pried his arms away from him, and took his hand in hers, "it's okay, they meant it as a joke."

Suga turned his head the other way, and picked up the pen and paper beside him.

_Don't bother. I'm just a burden._

Somehow reading this made Shiori angry. Angry at her friends who made Suga feel this way. Determined to convince Suga otherwise, she grabbed his shoulders violently shook him, much to his alarm, and said, "for goodness sake, stop thinking that way! Why would I move here if I thought you were a burden? I came here for you, Suga! Stop saying things like this! It only upsets me when you're sad."

Suga looked up at Shiori, his eyes wet with tears, "I'm sorry, Shii-chan...don't be upset."

"Then cheer up and stop crying! Stop thinking so lowly of yourself!"

Suga took one look at Shiori, who was staring fiercely at him, then averted his gaze in shame. That's right. He wanted Shiori to be safe and happy. Locking himself in and crying was no way to achieve that.

Sighing, he nodded at Shiori to indicate that he was okay, and slowly got up on his feet. Shiori then gave him an encouraging smile. She took his hand and pulled him out of the room, "alright, that's my Suga-kun! I'll cook your favourite things for dinner tonight!"


	12. Why

/Author's comments: so recently I read the Q&A in the original game producer's blog. It's really full of gems. I'm glad the characters he envisioned are just like they are in my head, but I guess that's coz he did a good job portraying them in the game. Of course there were a lot of questions about SugaxShiori, which he answered that it would be up to our imagination (that's what I'm here for). Yeah but do check it out if you're interested. Tosiaki did a (bad, but somewhat understandable) translation of it, but if you can japanese please go read the original. It's good practice. It's also good fangirl material.

Also I've been trying hard to think in each of the character's shoes, and it's been pretty confusing to decipher because their relationships and personalities and circumstances are so unconventional. So here is me just trying to dissect their brains.

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><p>For Suga, there was no question about his feelings for Shiori. From the start, she was the only person he had. When he was still a child, he would often dream of growing up with Shiori, and staying with her and her family in the mansion. He didn't know about how, but he knew that he wanted to marry her one day. That way, Shiori didn't have to take up the role of the Ogami-sama after her dad. He could do it in her place, leaving her free to do whatever made her happy. For the little boy Suga, marriage was not what it was to adults. In his head, it was just a way to be together with Shiori forever. In his entire life, he only had Shiori to dedicate all his love and care to.<p>

But as he grew up, he came to realise how selfish it was. Unlike him, Shiori wasn't a loner. She was an ordinary, outgoing girl with a family who loved her. She would probably make many friends while he continued to be alone. She might even find her love in school, and end up marrying that guy instead. And she might never come back to Azakawa. These thoughts made Suga feel extremely lonely. Shiori didn't need him like he did, her. Sure she might have regained her memories, but the time in between could still leave her feeling confused about her emotions.

When they had chatted while doing the paperwork, it felt like old times. Shiori, who was once a adamant and strong child, was now a grown, mature lady. But inside, it was the same girl who spoke to him, the girl who cared for him and liked him for who he was. It was this that reassured Suga that his feelings were still valid, if not even stronger. It was this, that also made Shiori realise that Suga still held that same special place in her heart.

However, they still had their own doubts when Shiori decided to move in.

_Why?_

Was Shiori just lonely after losing her parents,  
>or did she genuinely want to be with Suga?<p> 


	13. Dinner with Sakuma

Ever since Shiori moved in, Sakuma would join them for dinner every weekday after school. In the past, Suga would have found Sakuma's presence an annoyance. She would always hide in the museum after hours, and he always had to go find her. Scouring all three floors of the museum every night was no easy task, especially when finding a sneaky little girl like her. But he still had to - the museum wasn't safe, and Sakuma's parents thought he wasn't very safe as well. But many things had changed.

The Kotori Obake was appeased, so the museum was relatively safer now. Shiori had also met Sakuma's parents, who both thought that she was a pleasant and polite girl. So, they entrusted Sakuma to her without worries. Though, when they were leaving, they congratulated Suga heartily, which made things little awkward.

For a girl who was shy and quiet in school, Sakuma did an awful lot of talking at the dinner table. She also asked a lot of questions, and today was no exception.

"Onee-san," Sakuma asked with her mouth stuffed full of her favourite smoked fish, "you haven't told me what happened in the forest that day!"

"Hmmm? Haven't I already? I even told you the exact way we appeased the Kotori Obake and dispelled the child spirits."

"No, no, no not that," the purple haired girl waved her chopsticks around, "there's something missing."

"Missing?"

"Yeah, like ever since you came back from the forest you got closer to Manager-san. Something must've happened between you two in the forest!"

Suga coughed very loudly, almost choking on his food.

"See, onee-san! I'm right, right? Manager-san is turning red! Why did you choose him anyway? Onee-san are you sure he is your type?"

"A-ah?! It isn't like that, Sakuma-chan. You see, I regained my memories in the forest. Suga-kun is just my childhood best friend."

And then, Shiori told Sakuma about their story as children, how she came to make the promise, and how Suga sacrificed his voice to save her. After the story, Sakuma was staring down at the table sadly.

"Oh...well, Manager-san. I'm sorry I thought you were creepy and bad. I didn't think-" Sakuma was interrupted by a memo.

_It's ok._

"Well either way," Sakuma grinned and fixed her eyes on Suga, "Manager-san, could you look me in the eye and say you don't like Onee-san _that_ way?" At this point, Suga was already wishing that there was a hole in the ground he could jump into. He knew very well that Sakuma was right, but to bring it up in front of Shiori like this - it was not the way (nor time) he wanted to confess to her - if he ever decided to.

"Sakuma-chan, hurry up and eat your fish! It's getting cold."

Shiori quickly piled more fish onto Sakuma's bowl, while Sakuma giggled, pleased to have found something that could turn the stern manager into an awkward blushing mess.


End file.
